12 High-Value Corporate Video Ideas with the Best ROI
Savvy businesses have embraced video marketing
In the past several years video marketing has etched its way into becoming an essential tool for businesses looking to attract, engage, and convert customers. According to surveys in 2023, 96% of marketers say that videos are a very important part of their marketing strategy. Of those surveyed, 92% reported a positive ROI (Return on Investment) on the videos they produced.
Video content can be used by businesses to accomplish all sorts of specific communication needs - whether they be internally or externally. The medium is ripe with opportunity. With a reported 3.1 billion daily consumers of online video content, all it takes is the right content strategy and distribution plan to start making huge money-saving gains in your business.
In normal economic situations, experimenting with creative communication and advertising strategies is often encouraged. However, with a looming recession and many marketing professionals left trying to maneuver their slashed budgets and shrinking team size, the goal has quickly shifted to finding ways to generate more value for less.
With those objectives in mind, here are 12 proven video ideas that can help save your business money in 2023!
Read our blog: Why is Video Marketing Essential for Businesses in 2023?
1. Demo Videos
Demo videos are an efficient way to showcase a product, service, or process to potential customers. These videos are often leveraged by B2B businesses and B2C businesses alike to help educate their audience about the benefits of their product or service. This format allows a business to efficiently present a visual demonstration of how it works, outline real-world applications, and highlight their offerings' unique features.
The value of demo videos lies in their ability to engage potential customers and help them visualize how a product or service can meet their own, unique needs. Building a library of these videos can give you easy access to crucial assets that allow you to close sales more efficiently. They’re so useful, in fact, that according to a recent survey, 77% of people say they've decided to download a mobile app after watching a video that demonstrates how it works.
By using demo videos, businesses can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on face-to-face demonstrations or lengthy product descriptions. Their value is especially notable for businesses selling high-ticket items, such as complex machinery, robust software programs or specific niche services.
2. Animated Explainer Videos
Animated explainer videos are short, informative videos that aim to simplify complex topics in a consumer-friendly package. These videos generally utilize animation, narration, text graphics, statistics and music to present ideas in an easy-to-consume format. This type of content is excellent for businesses that want to illustrate a common problem their target audience encounters and demonstrate how their solution can be the answer they’ve been looking for.
These are highly valuable pieces of content, with studies showing that explainer videos can increase conversion rates by up to 144% and increase website engagement by up to 88%. As marketers, these are exciting numbers! What’s even more exciting is that these videos aren’t generally too expensive to create, making them an attractive option to many businesses with varying budget caps.
3. Testimonial Videos
Testimonial videos are a form of video content where customers give an authentic account based on their experience using a product or service. These videos can be used by businesses to establish social proof, highlight their exceptional customer service, and differentiate themselves from competitors.
Since 9 out of 10 people say they trust what a customer says about a business more than what that business says about itself, testimonial videos are a great tool for effectively building trust and credibility among potential customers. By showcasing actual customers’ real-world experiences, viewers can better understand how your product or service could fit into their own workflow.
For years, marketers have used this style of content to increase their ability to close sales. In fact, 77% of people who have watched a brand's testimonial video say it positively impacted their decision to purchase the product or service. Customers also tend to be happy to participate in producing a testimonial video as this type of content can work as a mutually beneficial marketing tool - their business can leverage your audience and vice versa.
4. Brand Storytelling Videos
Brand storytelling videos are a powerful marketing tool that allows businesses to connect with their audience through relatable narratives that communicate the brand's values and mission. Behind every brand are stories. By identifying meaningful stories and presenting them in a cohesive and appealing way, you can work to humanize your brand and create a deeper connection with the viewers - leading to increased trust and loyalty. By conveying emotions such as passion and empathy, brand story videos have a unique ability of helping brands stand out in a crowded marketplace and create lasting impressions on the audience.
Incorporating brand storytelling videos into a business's marketing mix can bring significant value in terms of building brand awareness, driving engagement, and increasing sales. According to surveys, if people love a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in future, 44% will share the story, and 15% will buy the product immediately.
Not sure what story to tell? A good place to start is to tell the origin story of why your business exists in the first place. Did the business start from humble beginnings in your garage? Tell us about it! Are you a proud third generation owner of a family-run business? Perfect, tell that story!
5. Behind-the-Scenes Videos
Behind-the-scenes videos offer an unfiltered view of the inner workings of a business. They showcase the people, the culture, the work environment, and the day-to-day operations that make up the brand. This type of content is valuable for businesses as it can help build an authentic connection with their audience that is not possible through scripted content.
This style of video can be used to accomplish many things. For instance, they can introduce viewers to their team, showcase their work environment, share excitement around events, or highlight company culture. Also, behind-the-scenes videos can help drive internal alignment, ensure consistency in customer conversations, and facilitate communication across the sales organization.
According to a survey, 54% of consumers want to see more behind-the-scenes content from businesses on social media platforms. On top of that, 87% of consumers say that such content makes them more likely to purchase a product or service from the brand. One cost-effective way to approach creating this type of content is by hiring a video production company on retainer to help output videos on a consistent basis. This can be a great money-saving investment as video production companies often offer significant discounts to their service rates when they are guaranteed consistent work.
6. Company Culture Videos
Company culture videos are an effective tool that businesses use to showcase their organizational culture and values to potential clients, partners, and employees. These videos are created to help companies differentiate themselves among competitors by highlighting their unique strengths, personality, staff, and employee benefits. While serving a similar function as behind-the-scenes videos, these are often presented in a more polished format and aim to give existing employees the opportunity to highlight what’s special about working at your company.
These videos act as effective recruiting tools that can have the ability to attract top talent in your industry. In a highly competitive job market, company culture videos can be used to showcase the company's values and unique culture, which can help to gain the attention of potential hires who share similar values. By attracting the right talent, you can improve retention rates and save money on costly and time-consuming recruiting efforts.
7. Video Sales Letters
A video sales letter - or VSL for short - is a sales-focused, scripted video that is generally packaged as a long-form video (even up to 20 minutes in length). While lengthy videos generally have lower audience retention rates, a well-structured VSL can be a highly effective sales tool for certain business models.
The trick with these videos is to ensure you understand your ideal customer’s pain points inside and out. In the first 3-5 seconds of the video your job is to grab the viewer’s attention by speaking to the nagging problem they’re currently encountering. While presenting directly to the camera, your job is to demonstrate your credibility and expertise in your particular field, and how your designed solution is what viewers have been searching for.
These videos are commonly used by service-based companies, consultants, and educators and work as an all-encompassing video that covers the topics that would likely be brought up in an initial sales call. From sharing case studies of successful past clients, to outlining your process, to presenting limited and irresistible offers with a clear call-to-action - VSLs aim to bring a viewer through the entire buyer journey in a single session.
These videos are perfect for campaign landing pages, YouTube ads and email marketing campaigns directed at warm leads. To be effective, they do require a fair amount of planning, but for many businesses, it’s the perfect way to speak directly to their potential customers without the time-draining process of booking dozens of meetings.
8. How-To Videos
How-to videos are instructional videos that demonstrate how to complete a specific task or solve a particular problem that is related to your industry. Unlike a video sales letter, this content strategy is a more passive, indirect way to attract potential customers to your business. The goal is to provide free, useful value that both educates the viewer and aligns your brand as an expert and/or thought leader in a subject matter.
Not sure where to start? Search for topic areas that your potential customers are often searching for online, and create video content around the answers they’re seeking out. For example, if you operate a landscaping business, you may choose to make a series of videos about the unique methods you’ve discovered to help homeowners get rid of the invasive weeds plaguing their lawns.
Over time, by consistently contributing to this bank of educational videos, you will help align your brand as a thought leader in any particular niche - making your products or services more visible to potential customers. Even if you’re sharing insights that make it possible for viewers to help themselves without your assistance, it’s unlikely they’ll have the equipment, time or interest to take action, and will ultimately seek out the business they trust most to handle the project - yours.
9. Training Videos
Training videos are incredibly useful when it comes to efficiently educating or instructing employees on a particular topic or skill. Today, many employers have made the switch, with the bulk of the onboarding process being done through video. Rather than removing a valuable team member from their post to manage face-to-face training, the process can be replaced with a series of video content that is standardized and consistent.
Investing in training videos has proven to be a huge money-saver - especially for large companies with offices across different cities. For example, Ernst and Young saved 35% by investing in eLearning video production. Dow Chemical was able to decrease its per learner expenses from $95 through traditional classrooms to only $11 via online training. Similarly, Microsoft was able to achieve cost savings by $303 per learner, from $320 to only $17, by switching to video-based training.
Not only does investing in eLearning save companies big money, but they also get better results from their hires. In fact, 51% of employees prefer self-paced training videos over in-person learning and are 75% more likely to watch videos over reading onboarding documents.
10. Personalized Videos
There are a variety of ways you can leverage the art of making and sharing personalized videos within your business. Personalized videos tend to be authentic in feel and are often even recorded either with a webcam or phone camera. Generally, these types of videos are best used to nurture existing leads and provide additional context to a particular proposed offerings.
For example, you may choose to record a Loom Video alongside a proposal you’re submitting in response to a publicly available RFP. This can give your submission a personalized touch and leave a positive impression on the people responsible for sifting through a long list of proposals. In fact, personalized Calls-to-Action perform 202% better than regular ones.
Personalized videos can also be used to provide customer support, offer a mini demo, thank a customer, or explain the terms of a contract. They’re valuable internally as well. Perhaps you noticed a team member who works from home that is doing exceptional work. You may want to shoot a brief video to let them know that you recognize and appreciate their hard work.
11. Stakeholder Update Videos
Stakeholder update videos are used to inform stakeholders about new developments, changes, or updates within a company. They can be used to share company news, product releases, or to showcase employee achievements with customers, investors and employees.
Some businesses choose to create update videos on a regular basis - oftentimes on a monthly or quarterly basis. This is especially true for publicly traded companies who want to keep their investors informed about the progress of the company. Videos are easier to digest than lengthy quarterly reports and provide an opportunity for the face of the company to be more visible among stakeholders.
12. Internal Communication Videos
Internal communication videos are pre-made videos designed to share information between a business and its employees. These videos can take different forms, including announcements, company values, onboarding and training, work process explanations, market changes, and corporate policies. They are an effective way for businesses to communicate with their employees, fostering relationships, and promoting dialogue at all levels. Internal communication videos drive productivity, innovation, and belief in what the organization is doing and everyone's role in facilitating its vision.
Incorporating internal messaging videos offers plenty of budget-friendly benefits. First, it can improve internal corporate communication, empowering employees and helping to recruit stronger talent. Second, a well-designed internal communication video strategy can promote cross-departmental collaboration, which can improve employee engagement and foster better relationships among colleagues. By utilizing internal communication videos, businesses can save money on training, meetings, and other forms of internal communication while improving the effectiveness of their internal communications.
Statistics also show that organizations with successful strategies in place for communication and assistance are 3.5 times more likely to outcompete their opponents, whereas knowledgeable employees demonstrated a 77% higher performance rate than their colleagues.
Ready to make returns on your video marketing investment?
I hope you found this blog post on video marketing for business helpful! By now, you should have a good understanding of some of the different use-cases for video within your business. Investing in strategic video content has shown to generate a solid return on investment and achieve all sorts of communication objectives.
Creating videos doesn't have to be expensive, and in most cases, you’ll see the return on your investment in a short window of time. The key to success is having the right strategy for your business - knowing what you’re aiming to accomplish and who your audience is crucial.
If you're interested in learning more about video production for businesses and discovering how video content can help your company improve its marketing ROI, you’re in good hands! Before you start Googling “Video Production Companies Near Me”, you should know that at Zest Media Productions, we’re a full-service video production company in Vancouver that helps Canadian brands of all shapes and sizes drive results through strategic video.
If you’re curious about how you can start driving results with video, book a free consultation below!
Interested in video marketing? Explore more insightful blog posts!
